The People vs. The Papers

Papers have their value. To be honest, paperwork is what I am naturally inclined towards and effortlessly pretty good at. Papers you can control, shuffle, organize and file away, and in this miraculous era you can even keep digital copies. Papers, and their virtual alter egos, can come in extremely handy when we can refer back to them, modify them and, of course, gloat over their meticulous organization. Papers you can always depend on. Yes, papers are the part of my job that I am completely comfortable with.

And then there are people. While papers are valuable, people are invaluable- not without value but of immeasurable value. Priceless. There is simply no way to estimate what people, when they have vision, motivation and ability, can accomplish. But, to be honest, peoplework is something I am not naturally inclined towards, and have had to train myself in with stoic selflessness. Oddly enough, I have learnt to enjoy aspects of it, and it heartens me that my colleagues discuss their questions and quandaries, problems and plans with me. People, though, unlike papers, cannot be controlled, timed, filed away for later or, in extreme cases, sent to the Recycle Bin. (Not to mention the shredder.) Thus follows, as night the day, that the long-term investment of taking care of people can sometimes get in the way of the essential short-term paying of the paperwork piper.

Time is precious. Priceless. And certain paperwork needs to be done because that is the tangible measure of my job done. But the measure of my job well done is that the peoplework is taken care of. The price to pay is, quite often, paperwork in my free time. A high price. Priceless.

But so are people.